I'm a thief

But don't arrest me. I took these pictures from a blog. My good friend, Shellyce, and I do a 'baby swap' and watch each other's child while she is at class. On this particular day, Leah had an explosion and if you are a mom (or even if you're not), you might know that the best way to clean this is with a bath. So how was Shellyce going to watch both if Leah was in the tub? Mind you, if your house is baby proof, it still might not be Nathan proof. Shellyce said it perfect "He finds things I didn't even know I had."

Solution: Bathe them both! How cute...

2008 to 2009

1. What did you do in 2008 that you've never done before? I had a baby and I started a blog

2. Did you keep your New Year's Resolutions and will you make more for next year? I did good at first, you know the reading scriptures and praying everyday and visiting the temple every week, but was not as faithful for the whole year. That definitely rolled over to this year as well as others about being a mom and a wife. And now I can add, graduate from college.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? Does myself count? As well as a few friends also.

4. Did anyone close to you die? Um, no

5. What countries did you visit? Only my own

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008? More patience

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory and why? March 15th, the day Nathan was born, the week spent in Orlando, the day school started and I was suddenly a student AND a wife AND a mom

8. What was your biggest personal achievement in 2008? Giving birth, although not natural like I'd really wanted

9. What was your biggest failure in 2008? All the weight I gained while pregnant. Will definitely do things different next time.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Colds, flu, nothing super serious. Except having to recover from birth, which was actually kind of hard for me.

11. What was the best thing you bought? Cute clothes that fit me!!

12. Where did most of your money go? Bills and anything that had to do with Nathan.

13. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Holding a brand new baby that had just been inside me, seeing him smile at me, seeing him crawl, and realizing how close I was to graduation.

14. What song will always remind you of 2008? Wow, really not sure

15. Compared to this time last year are you a) happier/sadder, b) fatter/thinner, c) richer/poorer? I'm gonna say happier, but it's probably pretty comparable. Thinner, because I'm not pregnant anymore, and I can fit into my old clothes, but there's still some 'jiggly' I want to get rid of. And I really think poorer, because there's so much to buy now with 3 of us, but still doing a-ok because of some pretty good planning.

16. What do you wish you'd done more of? Walks, reading, gardening, camping

17. What do you wish you'd done less of? less dessert eating, less sitting around/TV/movie watching

18. Did you fall in love in 2008? Even more so. times two. because of a new addition.

19. What was your favorite TV program? Gilmore Girls. I know it wasn't even on, but I rented the last like 2 or 3 seasons and finally finished what was going on. I wish it was still on...

20. What was the best book you read? What to Expect: the First Year, and I'm still reading. Really, EVERYONE should get it.

21. What was your greatest musical discovery? The Reflections of Christ soundtrack

22. What did you want and get? Wanted a healthy baby, check. Wanted a family vacation and some camping trips, check. Wanted to keep going to school so I could graduate, check. Wanted to do all these things and still be able to nurse until he's at least one, check.

23. What was your favorite film of this year? Horton Hears a Who, Iron Man, Wall-E. A BAD movie: Cloverfield. I really wish I didn't see it. And I hope you didn't either. If yes, I'm sorry. If no, Don't See It!!

24. What did you get on your birthday and how old did you turn? I turned 22, I'm already 23, and I got maternity clothes. Boring! But muchly needed! And they really were cute.

25. How would you describe your personal fashion in 2008? Whatever I could fit into, plus a few extra cute things so that I could wear something I liked.

26. What kept you sane? drinking lots of water while I was pregnant, drives, Corey's patience, date nights, alone nights, and starting a blog!

More Birthday Madness

Corey's birthday is exactly one week after mine, so we had more birthday fun last weekend. I made Corey a birthday cake and yes we're cheap and we used the same '2' and '1' candles but added 4 to make it '25'. Yup! Corey is now 25! A quarter of a century which makes him feel so old.


Last Sunday we went to Corey's parents house to celebrate our birthdays. Mine is the 4th, Corey's the 11th, and Corey's dad's birthday, Lyle, is on the 19th. Corey figured out a way to arrange the candles so it applied to all of us.

53 for Lyle.

25 for Corey.

23 for me.

The three birthday peeps and a couple select children.



There was a mad game of scrabble going on. Justin is suddenly obsessed. Well, not quite, but it was his idea to play.



Me and my niece Marissa. She couldn't quite get the concept of where to look while the picture was being taken.


Grandma with 3 of the 4 grand kids.


P.S. I never said anywhere in the last post, but we did qualify to get a new furnace for free and we are muchly enjoying a warm home again.

Something Gross

Top left: Me with the cake. Top right: Me with ice cream in my mouth.
Bottom left: The birthday cake. 21+2=23. Middle right: Corey actually cooked the entire meal.
Bottom right: Me eating ice cream right out of the container
because there was only enough for one person.

Sunday was my birthday. It was quite the birthday. Story time! Saturday, it was quite cold in our and we couldn't figure out why. We check out the heater, pilot light still on, temperature still on 70, but it definitely was pretty cold. Colder then usual, and we know cold. We live in a trailer. In Logan. It gets cold. So we call a guy to come look at it, it's like 8 or 9:00. He says we need this new certain part. He doesn't have one that will fit our furnace since it's a 'trailer furnace'. So we call a few more people to see if they have one. We found a guy who said he might. Checked his van. Called and said no, but he'd go look in his office. Called again and said yes, he'd come over and put it in. So he comes, puts in the new part, and just happens to look at the pilot light again. It was still blowing which told him that there was a crack in the heat extractor. Since our furnace was so old, it was unserviceable. So we needed an all new furnace. He told us that there was a company called BRAG that, if you qualify, could get you a new furnace for free and that he would try to contact the guy on Sunday and get back to us. Well, if you remember last weekend, it was rather cold. Saturday, the low was 0, but Sunday morning it was -7. Saturday night I baked a cake just so that the oven would warm up the kitchen a little. Anyway, Corey went out and bought two space heaters to add to the one we already had. We put one in Nathan's room, one in the kitchen, and one in our room. We kept the water running in both the kitchen and the bathroom so the pipes wouldn't freeze, and prayed really hard that night that we would just make it through until morning. I was really mostly worried about Nathan and him staying warm and sleeping good. We can dress warm and know how to put more blankets on to be warm. We obviously made it through the night, but since it was so cold we spent most of the day after church at Mike and Jen's. Corey had a big birthday dinner planned for me fo steak and shrimp, so we took it all over there and had a fun afternoon. We actually only had 3 birthday candles so we called some friends and came up with what you see in the picture. Thanks Mike and Jen for helping us stay warm on my birthday!

Now for something gross.

Corey tried to grow out his facial hair all during the Christmas break. I made him shave off to a goatee because I really don't like hairy kisses. We should have taken a picture of him before he started shaving, but it didn't happen. All of the ROTC guys in his class were going to grow out their facial hair during the break and on the first day of classes, show up to PT on Monday morning with a mustache. (You can have a mustache with an Army uniform if it doesn't go past the corners of your mouth.) First, he had to have some fun. He shaved handlebars just for you, Brandt. Although yours were way cooler. These pictures look like he just scribbled it on. But I promise, that is home grown. I made him shave it off the second he got back from PT on Monday morning.